Exhaustion
by reaper with no name
Summary: Defeating Demise? Tiring. Explaining it all to the people of Skyloft? Exhausting. Evading Zelda's machinations? Impossible.


"Zelda?"

"You mean there really _is_ a world below the clouds?"

"What's a 'demise'?

"So _that's_ what happened to the Goddess' Isle!"

"You should have seen it! That thing tried to climb up the walls, so I blasted him down with the Groosenator! And then Link took that sword and WHAM!"

"You? The chosen hero? Sure, and I'm the Goddess herse…What do you mean that's Zelda?"

"Now I see why you haven't been attending classes with the rest of us…"

"Link, you have to take me down to the surface sometime!"

This had been Link's day. No matter how exhausting the fight with Demise had been, the battle to answer everyone's questions was worse. Doubly so when they all asked them at the same time. Each time he answered someone's query, five more came from all around him. The doors to the Knight Academy were so close. But he couldn't escape. The ring of people around him was too thick.

It was a good thing Zelda and her father did most of the talking. Nevertheless, by the time the sun set over the Knight Academy, Link could barely maintain consciousness.

"Isn't that right, Link?"

Link looked at Batreaux blankly. He must have nearly dozed off again.

Zelda grabbed him by the shoulders and shook him roughly. "Link, don't fall asleep on me. He was talking about how you made it so he could walk outside without people being afraid of him."

Link nodded dumbly. It seemed he just couldn't follow twenty voices at once any more.

"Heh, some hero. Can't even survive a conversation!"

"Hey, back off, Cawlin!" Groose interjected. "I haven't seen you fight any fifty-foot monsters lately."

The noise of chatter resumed. Link began to wonder if he would ever be able to get out of this.

And then came a small voice.

"…You know, I think maybe we've put Link through enough today. Couldn't we give him a break, or something?"

Somehow, Fledge's voice cut through the cacophony. Maybe it was because it was true. Or maybe it was because people had begun to notice Fledge's newfound strength. But whatever the reason, everyone else fell silent.

It was Gaepora who spoke next. "Fledge is right. Link has undergone a trying ordeal, and we are not making it any easier with our barrage of inquiries. We should let him rest."

"Good idea, father," Zelda said. "Groose and I can stay to answer questions. Karane, Pipit, could you two make sure Link gets to his room? I'm not sure he can make it on his own."

Cawlin began to snicker, but a glare from Groose ended it.

"All right, but you better save the good stuff for when I get back!" Karane noted as she and Pipit each grabbed one of Link's arms and practically dragged him towards the doors.

Link was only vaguely aware of events around him as he was led past several doors and up the stairs.

"So, you're sure you can fit through his window after you've locked the door?"

"Yep, tried it earlier. Everyone will think he's there. Just make sure no one tries to open his window from the outside during your watch tonight."

One creak of a door later, and Link was in a room with a pink rug. His shield was taken off of him and dumped unceremoniously on the floor, while Link himself was set down on a bed of deep magenta.

And then the wheels in Link's head began turning. Up the stairs? Pink rug? Magenta bed? His room was downstairs, with an orange rug and green bed!

His eyes snapped to attention, as if they had previously been closed, and surveyed their surroundings. As soon as he spied the blue flower pillows, Link knew.

He was in _Zelda's room_.

He turned to the people who had brought him here, ready to demand an explanation. But it seemed they were way ahead of him.

"Think of this as our way of thanking you for what you did for us."

"You two had better not make a lot of noise tonight. Remember, I'll be sleeping next door."

And with that, they departed, leaving Link in unfamiliar territory.

He had been in here only once, and was still ashamed of his actions from that time. He briefly wondered if he should come clean about having read her diary. It was the right thing to do, but then again, she might demand to read his in retribution, and she would probably slap him if she knew what he had written about her.

But never mind that. Did Zelda know about this? Did she help set it up? What if she hadn't, and caught him in here? Shouldn't he get out? What if she _had_ set it up, and he left? What would she think then?

He sat frozen, though internally he was anything but. The combination of adrenaline and exhaustion seemed to be tearing his body apart. His breathing was erratic, the rhythm of his heart appeared to be random, and he had no idea what to do. After a while his body began alternating between panic and exhaustion, as if it couldn't decide whether to escape or stay.

Soon enough, however, it was too late, as the door opened to reveal Zelda.

"Oh, good, you're not asleep yet."

She quickly closed and locked the door behind her.

"Just in case Pipit and Karane didn't tell you, this meeting is our little secret. Everyone thinks you're in your room right now."

Link struggled to pay attention to both her words and the way she slowly made her way towards the bed.

"There are so many things I wanted to say to you, and I wanted to say them to you here, alone."

She was sitting next to him now. Maybe his eyes were playing tricks on him, but she appeared to be inching closer to him.

"But now that I have the chance, I'm not sure how."

No mistaking it. She was definitely getting closer. He was in full panic mode now.

"I'm…Really glad that the chosen one was you, Link."

She laid her head against his shoulders.

"I don't know what I would have done if it had turned out to be Groose, or Stritch, or Pipit. But I wouldn't have been happy. That much I'm sure of."

His ears may have been hanging on her every word, but his body was straying into exhaustion mode.

"It feels horrible to say it, but knowing that you were the one braving all those dangers made me happy somehow. I wanted you to be the one to save me, Link."

His shoulders slackened.

"But more than that, there was something else I wanted to say. I know you've always been a bit dense, but even you should realize it by-"

His body began slowly falling sideways, towards Zelda. By the time he noticed it, she was already pushing him the other way.

"Hey, don't fall asleep on me now!"

At this point he was far too tired to catch himself. With a dull fluff of the pillows and sheets, he found himself staring at the ceiling. Almost immediately after, Zelda came into view, hovering over him on her hands and knees.

"Hmph. You're so lazy I can't even tell you…"

She was so close. Adrenaline he didn't know he still had surged through his veins, sustaining his eyes as they asked her wordlessly "tell me what?"

"I…"

Even Link knew where this was going. He may have been more tired then than he had been at any point in his life, but all the signs were there. He was in her room, she had made arrangements so that everyone would think he was elsewhere, she was nearly lying on him, her cheeks were on fire, and she looked at anything but him as she tried to say something.

Even a sleep-deprived Link wasn't that oblivious.

She hadn't said it, exactly, but he got the message. And knowing her, she could probably read on his face that he understood. Her face closed in, but then mysteriously stopped. She was waiting. For him?

She had dragged him through all of this without ever giving him a say in the matter, and now she was waiting for _him_?

Under other circumstances, it would have been something to laugh about. But right now it didn't matter. She was right there, and he couldn't have resisted her if he had wanted to.

He reached up towards her face, and cupped her cheek gently. Then, with the force of a feather, he pulled her towards him.

And she came down closer to him, but still stopped just before their lips met. Why? Why the hesitation?

Another burst of adrenaline got his mind working well enough to answer. She wanted him to be the one to do it. She had always wanted it to be him. That was why, all of the other times they were alone and she had gotten this close, she had never done it. She wanted him to kiss her first.

Compared to all that he had done for her during his adventure, obliging her this time was easy.

He wrapped his arms around her torso and kissed her for the first time. And the second. And the third. And soon he lost count.

Eventually, he began trailing kisses down her jaw to her neck. Then he went lower still, to her collarbone…

"Hey," she pleaded as she weakly pulled herself away. "We'll have plenty of time…For that…Later…"

He felt somewhat cheated, seeing as how she was the one who decided to lie on top of him, but she was probably right. There was no need to rush things, and his body was starting to lose its fight with exhaustion again. And that was to say nothing of the wrath of Karane (who for all Link knew was probably trying to sleep next door).

He began moving to get up, but Zelda pushed him back down.

"And where exactly do you think you're going?"

He looked to the door.

"Well, I suppose you could go to your room and sleep there if you wanted. Or…"

Her gaze went from the door to the bed on which they laid.

"…You could stay here with me."

His answer was to kiss her again.

She smiled and laid her head against his chest. It seemed she had everything in the world she could want. Link couldn't resist a smile of his own.

And so, they laid there together, letting the Goddess of Sleep take them both.


End file.
